Friday, 9 November 2012

Health for Exams

Hallo everyone, I know I know I haven't post much at all, but today I'm here with a blah blah blah post on health/well-being for all of those who have exams coming up, because the worst thing (well probably not the worst worst thing, but pretty bad) is to get sick before (can't revise/prepare), during (you'll definitely not perform your best and you might be a distraction for other people around you as well) or after your exams (because you would want to be partying/celebrating, not staying home sick). This post might be a bit late with my first exam on monday, but hey, better late than never. So let's get right into it shall we :)

Disclaimer: This is just what I do and what works for me in keeping me fairly healthy, so it might not 100% work for everyone else.

1. FOOD

Now good food is so so so important in keeping the body healthy, if you eat right, you'll feel and look right, trust me, you really are what you eat. So be sure to eat your 5+ everyday (3 veggetables and 2 fruits, at least) prefereably in a range of colours, the more colourful, the better, and no I don't mean colourful as in dipping it in food colouring, natural colours from the fruit/vegies are the way to go. Also, fruit juice/ fruit yoghurt DO NOT count. But remember, 5 is the minimum, I normally eat about 6 or 7 different types of vegies + fruit per day. If you'r not eating your 5+, start right now, or at least try to eat one fruit/vegies more than you did yesterday and gradually increase it.

Once you're eating your 5+ a day, you'll feel less need to reach of junk food, you'll perform better and because of all the vitamins and nutrients in fruit and vegies, you'll hopefully don't get sick :)

RECIPE: Fruit salad

-3-4 different types of fruit in small quantities

-yoghurt (any type would do)

-Cereal (this is optional but it really adds to the texture of this salad, can be any type of cereal)

1. Cut your fruit into bite size pieces and place in a bowl/glass/whatever you're going to serve this in.

2. Pour yoghurt over the fruit.

3. Sprinkle cereal on top.

4. Eat.

Btw, this is supposed to be a snack, so dont go over board with your fruit and yoghurt or else you'll end up with too much. And also, this recipe is totally open to your preference, mix it up a little, but banana with strawberry yoghurt works amazing together.

2. Study Owl

Now, I'm pretty sure 90% of us do this: the nights close the exams, you're staying up real late, try to study as much as you can, then you end up sleeping in the next morning, then staying up even later than the previous night, yup yup, you know what I'm talking about. Now I'm not going to say that night study is bad (but it's probably is bad), because I personally find them very productive, because at day time, there're just so many distractions!! SO if you're like me, and find night time study better, here are a a few 'rules' you should try to keep to:

- Do not stay up past a certain set time, mine is 12:30 which might be too late or early for some of you, so find a good time for yourself. Because if you sleep too late, your brain will be too tired to cram any more stuff and personally if I sleep too late, I'll get funny eyes (ie one eye will have a different crease to the other which looks stupid) and I'll break out :\.

-Light, desk and chair, okay this might sound stupid but do have proper lighting, chair and desk to protect your body. If the light is too dim you'll get headaches and eyesores, and can potentially lead to spectacles. Non-proper desk and chair causes sore back and neck which can lead to further complications when you're older. I know this might be too far ahead for some of you to worry about but hey you gotta do the best for your body, and sore eyes + crippled neck/back won't help during exams.

- Midnight drinks, well if you're gonna drink coffee to stay up, don't. Because coffee isn't the best thing for you, even though it has really good 'waker-upper' power, you do not need that much. So if you drink coffee at night, after studying, you wont be able to go to sleep, at all, then when the caffeine finally wore off, you'll be dead tired. Trust me, I learnt this from experience.

Try something more gentle but work just as well, like tea, lemon water, pomegranate juice, prune juice,etc, these drinks also has alot more health benefits with extra vitamins and nutrients.

RECIPE: Moosh's take on Green Tea :D (because plain green tea is not that yum tbh)

-Green tea bag

-Honey (honey is good if you have hay fever like me, cause of the season change)

-Milk

-Boiling water

-Your favourite cup (this is a must)

1. Add a tea bag to your cup with 2 teaspoons (or whatever amount depends on how sweet you want it) of honey.

2. Fill the cup up 3/4 way with boiling water, stir and sit for 2 mins.

3. Fill cup all the way with milk and stir.

4. Enjoy :)

3. Still do the things you love

If you enjoy moving around, remember to keep doing so during exams. Getting out for a run, hit the gym or go for a walk at least 3 times a week has huge benefits for the body (for obvious reasons, cause you're exercising) and also the brain. This give the brain some resting time and a refreshment from all the studying, which results in more a more efficient mind for exams. Also it's nice to have a break to move around and tan :)

Keep doing your hobbies whatever it might be is also very important, this will keep you sane and your level of stress low. Give yourself a break and don't abuse this by taking a break every 5 minutes, because study hard is also important. If you think you'll get distracted easily from all the things you like doing around you, my advice id to simply move them somewhere you can't see, or simply move to another study location. My weakness is nail polish and make up, so I simply put them in the other room :). Also things like laptop and phone can also cause a distraction, simply turn them off, or give them to your parent or something till your break time.

4. EXAMS

This is a real cliche but I'm gonna say it:

-Try not to stress too much, because moderate stress is normal, but too much can really affect your performance.

-Walk out of that exam knowing whatever the result is, you've tried your best.

-Eat right, rest right, study right and you'll be absolutely FINE.

That's all I can think of really, hope you all do amazing with exams, I won't be posting till the 26/11 :( But now to then, tootles :)